Columbus, GA - The Columbus Catfish (20-38) dropped their 12th straight game, tying the minor league season high with the St. Lucie Mets of High-A, to Savannah by a final score of 7-4.

Normally, batting practice ends and the game starts about an hour afterward, but someone forgot to tell the Sand Gnats. Greg Veloz opened the game with a shot over the left field wall, his 2nd of the year. Michael Parker then followed with a shot over the left field wall, his 2nd. After a Casey Craig strikeout, Jordan Abruzzo roped a ball over the left field wall. Glenn Gibson would record another strikeout, this one against Jose Jimenez, before allowing his 4th home run of the inning, a Francisco Pena shot over the left field wall. Joaquin Rodriguez walked and Carlos Guzman walked to set the stage for last night's hero Matthew Bouchard. Bouchard hit a pitch from Gibson in the exact same spot as last night for a three-run home run and a 7-0 Sand Gnat lead. Not to be undone, Gibson struck out the side by getting Veloz looking at an inside fastball. Gibson struck out the side and allowed 5 home runs in the first inning. That is not easy to do folks, and it is the first time the Catfish have allowed 5 home runs in their history.

Columbus would score a run in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th innings to make it a 7-4 final. In the 2nd, Ian Paxton drove in Greg Sexton with a single to left. In the 3rd, Reid Fronk drove in Omar Luna with a groundout to second base. In the 5th, Omar Luna homered, his first of the year and in the 7th, a wild pitch scored Luna.

Outside of the 1st inning, the Sand Gnats were relatively quiet, as they did not score another run and only 2 guys had more than 2 hits in the game: Francisco Pena (2-4 with a double, home run and run batted in) and Greg Veloz (2-5 with a run, bunt single, home run and run batted). Scott Moviel recorded his 4th win of the season after being spotted the 7 runs.

Columbus was led offensively by Greg Sexton, who was 2-4 with a run, and Sand Gnat Killer Omar Luna, who was 2-4 with 3 runs and is now hitting .500 against Savannah. Gibson picked up his 8th loss of the season after a disastrous 1st inning, but Jeremy Hall was huge in this game, as he fired 5 innings to conserve the Catfish bullpen from what could have been a very long night.

The Catfish 12 game losing streak equals that of the St. Lucie Mets, who were owners of the longest losing streak of the season. The Catfish franchise-high losing streak is 13 games and that will be put to the test tomorrow morning, as the Catfish and Sand Gnats resume their series at 11 AM tomorrow.